Krugman Tells (David) Obey: Income Inequality & Healthcare Must Be Addressed...

[Jackpine Radical]

Nice to know Obey is listening to Krugman.

The following is a press release, available for free distribution & therefore quoted in its entirety:


http://www.obey.house.gov/

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


CONTACT: Ellis Brachman

Wednesday, March 25, 2009


[phone]






KRUGMAN TELLS OBEY: INCOME INEQUALITY & HEALTHCARE MUST BE ADDRESSED FOR A SOUND ECONOMY

Nobel Prize Winning Economist Says “We Can Do Better Than This!”



WASHINGTON, D.C. – Testifying before the House Appropriations Labor, Health, Education Subcommittee, chaired by Seventh District Congressman Dave Obey (D-WI) today, Nobel Prize winning economist Dr. Paul Krugman said that even if President Obama’s efforts to reverse the recession are successful, they will not be enough to create a sound economy unless we address the fundamental issues of income inequality and healthcare.



“I find it instructive - and depressing - to consider the state of the economy for ordinary Americans in 2007 – which was as good as it got in recent years,” Krugman told Obey’s Subcommittee. “By almost any measure, the economy was worse for most families in 2007 than it had been in 2000, the previous business cycle peak. And there was, if you believe the numbers, surprisingly little progress even over a longer period, reaching back three decades.”



Why has a growing economy failed to deliver for ordinary Americans? Krugman agreed with Obey that one major reason was the failure of trickle-down economics. “Many of the gains in income went to a small minority of very well-off people, with most workers seeing little rise in real wages,” Krugman said. “Even using Census data, which miss the growth in the highest incomes, average household income rose twice as fast over the past 30 years as median income – that is, income growth would have been at least twice as fast if it had not been for growing inequality.”



Krugman added that there is a secondary reason for the failure of economic growth to help many Americans: our dysfunctional health care system. “We are unique among advanced countries in not having some form of universal coverage, yet we spend far more to cover 85 percent of our population than our counterparts spend to cover everyone – with no evidence that we receive correspondingly better care,” he said.



“For both these reasons, there has been a remarkable disconnect between the state of the economy, as measured by the growth of GDP, and the experience of most Americans. And if that disconnect continues, recovering from the current recession, urgent though it is, will still leave major economic problems unsolved,” Krugman warned.

Obey, as Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, and the Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Education, is holding a series of hearings on the current economic conditions facing the country and the potential impacts of the FY2010 federal budget. Dr. Krugman was one of three witnesses testifying before Obey’s subcommittee during today’s hearing on Raising Wages and Living Standards for families and Workers.

[Juche]

1. We can start to address this

Obama called for 2 trillion in cuts to spending over the next 10 years, most of it in the form of corporate welfare. He proposes raising taxes on the wealthy by at least 300 billion and letting the Bush tax cuts expire (2 trillion or more over a decade). He supports middle class tax cuts, EFCA and universal healtcare.

If we work at it, within 10 years I think we can change the direction of income inequality. It'll take a public healthcare system, progressive taxes, middle class tax cuts and a strong union movement.

[Larkspur]

6. As long as the Obama Admin supports H-1B visa program and outsource American job

income inequality will continue.

There are at least 200,000 American Tech workers unemployed, and yes I'm one of them, and Indian companies this week were meeting with Obama aide Larry Summers about increasing the number of H-1B visas. Summers of course doesn't give a damn about American workers so he's supportive of increasing H-1B visas.

And of course, we have manufacturing, which first suffered the job outsourcing binge. This was the road that many took to get to the middle class. It's a road that has not been available to many for a long time.

[leftstreet]

2. K&R

[Better Believe It]

3. K & R

[No.23]

4. Ah, finally.

Someone's calling a spade a spade.

Finally.

"Why has a growing economy failed to deliver for ordinary Americans? Krugman agreed with Obey that one major reason was the failure of trickle-down economics."

[Jackpine Radical]

10. Yes, in general we need a neo-Keynesian economics.

Time to scrap the Chicago School/Friedman nonsense.

[chill_wind]

5. Yay for Obey! (and Krugman) I think Dean Baker was also in front of that subcommittee this month.

Good! K & R.

[aquart]

7. Keep talking, Krugman. Maybe one day Obama will listen.

[Jackpine Radical]

9. I do think Obama is hearing part of the message.

I just wish I could be more confident that the Administration will come out with a respectable health care plan. I never did especially like Obama's proposals with their weak and tentative approach to single-payer, but (probably foolishly) hoped Congress would put together a more reasonable plan. During the Primary season, everyone was saying "Donpt get hung up on the details of the plan. All that will change before it becomes legislation anyway." Well, I hope that's what Obey and a few others are doing. Obey does represent the poorest part of WI, the northern & northeastern band of counties.

[PM Martin]

11. He needs to do so.

[Norrin Radd]

8. kr

[fascisthunter]

12. good on Krugman

and Obey... I need some sleep. I am seeing Krugman and Kucinch's name interchangeably.